Man rescued at sea denies killing family for fortune

A man rescued after a week stuck adrift in the Atlantic Ocean denied late Wednesday that he had killed his mother, who apparently drowned during the ill-fated fishing trip. 22-year-old Nathan Carman was picked up by a cargo ship on Sunday some 100 miles off the coast of Massachusetts.

Shortly after his arrival on shore two days later, it emerged that police had been suspicious enough to search his home in Vernon, Vermont, for evidence of foul play. According to media reports, the request for a search warrant indicates that investigators believe Carman may have purposely taken his mother out on a vessel in sore need of repair and to a different location than he led her to believe.

"I know I wasn't responsible for the boat sinking. I know that I wasn't responsible for anything that resulted from the boat sinking. I know I wasn't responsible for my mom's death," Carman told ABC News.

In a separate interview with The Associated Press, Carman swore he had frantically searched for his mother, 54-year-old Linda Carman of Middletown, Connecticut, as their boat went down, but was unable to find her.

"What happened on the boat was a terrible tragedy that I am still trying to process and that I am still trying to come to terms with," he said.

"I don't know what to make of people being suspicious," Carman continued. "I have enough to deal with." He added that he had done necessary repairs to the ship shortly before he and his mother left to fish for tuna on September 17.

He told authorities that their boat sank "in minutes" the very next day, and as he made to throw food and life jackets onto the emergency raft, he no longer saw his mother in the cockpit.

Carman also suspected in grandfather's murder

But to investigators, skepticism in Carman's story may not be so misplaced. He is still, after all, a "person of interest" in the murder of his grandfather, John Chakalos.

87-year-old Chakalos, a well-off real estate developer from Windsor, Connecticut, was shot in 2013. He left his $42 million estate to his four daughters, one of which was Linda Carman.

Police initially focused on Nathan Carman, as he was the last person known to have seen Chakalos alive, had bought a rifle consistent with the one used in the slaying and had disposed of a computer hard drive and GPS system around the same time.

However, a request for an arrest warrant was turned down by prosecutors, asking instead that investigators gather more information first.

"My grandfather was like a father to me, and I was like a son to him," the young man told The Associated Press. "He was the closest person in the world to me, and I loved him and he loved me, and I had absolutely nothing to do with his death."

Carman has said he would do his best to help the police in both investigations.